Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-25
Eyes" said I.

WEAPONS TAKEN FROM CoUNTERFEITERs
"Well, sir, that is a S. national bank note
raised to $780, and this raising of bills is very
common. Here is 81 raised to $40, and So
to $50. The plan is to erase whatever may
be necessary to the change from the bill by
means Of acids and other chemicals, and then
to put in new amounts by print or sometimes
with the pen. Such bills do not deceive men
who are accustomed to handle money, but
they pass easily in the country districts. Tt
is in the country that the most counterfeit
ing is done and passed. The banks of the
city are expert and wary, and there is dam
ger OF detection"
1 next picked up some S. notes. and the
guard, picking up Il IS, went on. "That,n
aid he, sis very dangerous counterfeit
and the plates from which it was produced
are SO near like the genuine that they are
almost perfect. We got $4,000 of this
money when we captured the man who made
them, and there was great deal in circula-
ton. Some was sent here for REDEMPTION
and we detected the fraud by a microscopic
examination. The trouble was that the same
plate was used for six or eight different
banks. They were made so that the name
OF the bank could be changed, and when il
was advertised over the country that there
were counterfeits Of such a bank issue, they
changed the name OF the bank and were thus
enabled to get more upon the marketn
"How about the bank note papera Can that
be counterfeitedw
"Yes; Tom Ballard got thirty years for sue
ceeding at this. We convicted him on
two indictments for counterfeiting and sent
him to the Albany penitentiary for thirty
years"
II notice that all this counterfeit money
has the word bad cut into them"
"Yes, we cut all counterfeit money that
way as soon as it is received, and we ruin the
plates by gouging grooves through the en-
craving" l looked at the engraved plates at
this point and found them cut this way and
that, so as to utterly destroy the design.
curiosity III bad money was shown me in
the shape of $50 bill Every bit of the
paper and every line of the bill is genuine.
And | asked the guard what he kept it for
aud why it was.
ut is not full BILL" he replied; aand if
you will examine it carefully you will see
that 1t is made up Of pieces pasted neatly to-
gether The man who made this took twenty
good $50 bills and he cut each into twenty
pieces ana then put them together, leaving
one piece out of each bill, SO that at the close
instead of having twenty $50 bills, he had
twenty-one. When he got through his bills
looked very well and they passed easily. but
after they had been handled two or three
times they began to show the seams and were
easily detected. This method of making
money is, however, very difficult, and we get
very few such bills.
There was counterfeiting done during the
ConIederacy," he went ON, "but the trouble
was the counterfeits of the Confederate
money were better than the originals, and
the money soon became so very worthless
that it did not pay to counterfeit it,
"One of the best S. counterfets ever made
was made by an Ohio man named Ulrich.
he made an excellent $50 and 800 plate. He
was arrested in Cincinnati and the plate Sc
cured. He was sentenced to the Ohio peui
tertiary, and while in confinement he en-
graved upon All old saw blade an excellent
portrait OF Ex-Governor William Allen.
The head of the secret service would make
a splendid character for Anna Katherine
Green, and if she would come here she could
find plenty of material for her detective
stories. His name is James j. Brooks. and
he is, perhaps, as expert a master of his art
as any in the world. He is now about 20
years OF age, medium height, and he has a
very wnite face and short white hair, which
looks like frosted silver. He has an aouiline
nose, with very sensitive nostrils, ard the
mustaehe under this is the color of driven
snow. His eyes are a blush gray, and when
ne Smiles crows feet gather at their corners
He talks In voice almost as metallic as the |
ring OF the genuine silver dollar, and ne can
tell man at q glance and scent counter
teiter by the atmosphere which surrounds
hin. He is pleasant man in conversation.
$ cultured and brainy, and is more happy at
Seing the poSsessor OF twenty-sx grandchil-
iren than of any stroke of detective work
ne has ever done.
FRANK @. CARPENTER.